Astros manager Cooper accepts economic realities (w/ audio)

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Astros manager Cecil Cooper had a 24-minute briefing with the media, touching on many important issues.

He seems at peace with the possibility of losing Miguel Tejada or Ty Wigginton.

Here are some highlights from Cooper on Jose Valverde, the pitching staff, Michael Bourn, the bullpen, Brandon Backe and the trade market.

Here are some questions, as asked by me, Allison Footer from MLB.com and a few other reporters at the briefing.

Question. So what would you like to see happen? We talked since the season has been over, and a lot’s changed just as far as the club philosophy with Randy Wolf kind of popping off the table and other things. How do you feel about it from a managerial standpoint?

Coop: “From a manager’s standpoint, we need to continue looking at pitching. That’s our priority. Definitely look at pitching, trying to improve in that area, because that’s the one area that we are, I think, a little bit short in. I think we’ll all agree on that.

“We need to improve our starting pitching in particular. Our bullpen is really solid with Byrdy (Tim Byrdak) at the back and (LaTroy) Hawkins, and having (Doug) Brocail re-sign, and then (Geoff) Geary and (Chris) Sampson, that gives us a lot of strength.

“When you add two left-handers, that’s a pretty strong bullpen, and that was really the key for us last year. But we definitely need to improve our rotation. We led the league in giving up home runs, and we need to get better.”

I asked? “You cannot possibly start the season with your starting rotation right now. You almost …

Coop: “You say that as …”

Me: I’m asking.

Coop: “No. We could, very well. Those are the projected guys right now. We have to look at Wandy (Rodriguez) as being one, and also Roy (Oswalt). When you add Mike Hampton to it and then you have Brian Moehler and Brandon Backe, those are the names that we have at this point in time.

“All of those guys are all quality Major League pitchers. But we are going to look to continue to improve. If those are the five guys that I start season with, those are the five guys I start the season with.”

Footer asked: What are your feelings about Brandon Backe, with his back?

Coop: “Well, the first year (back after Tommy John) surgery, I thought Brandon was really strong throughout the season. It’s just at the end there he missed a couple starts. He wasn’t really the same pitcher that he was earlier in the year.

The only thing with Brandon is we didn’t see any consistency out of Brandon, pitching more with his fastball. Once he starts to do that, I think then he has a chance to be a good, solid Major League starter.

“That’s one of the things that I think he has to work on as a pitcher, is get to a point where he’s not afraid to throw his fastball or use his fastball. Here is a guy with 90-mph, 91-mph. That’s an average Major League fastball. You have to use that.

“He’s got an excellent breaking ball, but you have to use your fastball to pitch. You need your fastball to use your breaking ball. I thought he had a pretty good year when you consider he’s coming off the surgery. He gave us a lot of innings. I think he’s capable. We talked about it in spring about him being a guy to really step up, and I thought he started the year out (well). He was on track to get it done, and he got into the summer and things started to change a little bit.

Footer asked: With Sampson, you’re comfortable with Sampson?

Coop: “Well, those two guys (Brocail and Geary), I think the key is our bullpen. You’ve got two guys who can pitch multiple innings, and I thought they were very effective. No concerns about the surgery that they had. Both were basically minor surgeries, so I expect both of them to be healthy and be a big part of our bullpen.

Footer: With the uncertainty of the rotation, is there any temptation with Sampson?

Coop: “No, I don’t think so. I think we are all kind of settled in that he is a bullpen guy, and he’s most effective as a pitcher pitching out of the bullpen. He can pitch multiple days for us. I think that’s big, if you don’t have the quote, unquote, five aces, let’s say. You need a guy to come out of the pen that hits multiple innings and can be effective, and that’s what Chris did for us in the second half of the year.”

Me: Considering the guys out there in the Fall League, when you’ve heard from the Dominican Republic and maybe what’s going on in Panama with I guess Carlos, he’s healthy, how does your lineup shake out? You don’t know what’s going to happen, but if your outfield comes back healthy with Michael Bourn?

Coop: “Yeah, I have, definitely, on Michael’s case. I know he played in the Dominican. He played very well in the Dominican. He’s a guy who actually cut down his strikeouts. Last time I looked, he had 90-plus at-bats and had 20 strikeouts, so that lends itself to about one in five. In the (regular) season he was about one in three. So he made some improvements there.

“He had, I think, 14, 15 walks, so walks were up. On-base percentage was better. We’ve got to think that with a year of experience he’s going to be much better. So I expect Michael to be a guy to finally step up and be the guy that we thought he could be.

“Our lineup should be pretty solid. You talk about Carlos being healthy and being back in left and using Michael in center and then Hunter (Pence) in right field, had two really good years under his belt and you add Lance and then a healthy Matsui to that and a Tejada, that’s a solid lineup. I’m very comfortable with that lineup, and I think the guys will get better, speaking in terms of Hunter and also Michael.”

Me: Not saying you are going to trade Wigginton, but just in case you don’t have Wigginton, what do you see in the Arizona Fall League that might make you feel comfortable?

Coop: “Well, I was very impressed with Chris Johnson. I think he has the potential, power potential, to be a solid Major League hitter. He’s just a young guy that needs to play more. He’s got a little short taste of Triple A baseball, so I think he still needs a little bit of experience. Hopefully he’s a guy that can come to camp with us and give him some exposure and see where he’s at.

Sutton is another kid that played really well in the fall. Good offensive player. We always thought he would be a good offensive player, and I’m comfortable with him as a second base, third base kind of guy, possibly a guy that could play short a little bit.

“Those are two kids, in particular, that are really impressive on the offensive side. I don’t think that they are that far away from being Major League players, and that’s a key for us. They are going to be key guys for us to hold onto those two kids.

“I thought Brian Bogusevic played pretty well, too. I saw him play a couple of ballgames, and he’s just learning how to play on the offensive side. He’s spent, what, three years as a pitcher? So he just needs to play a little bit and get some exposure and get some experience as a Major League pitcher. Hopefully he’ll get a chance to do it in spring training.”

Question: Going back to Michael Bourn for a second, (Brad) Lidge had success from day one. Do you think that weighed on Bourn, that the guy that he was traded for did well and he put more pressure on himself?

Coop: “No, I think we hit upon it earlier in spring training and it really played itself out. We talked about how Michael was playing the first time as a regular, in his hometown. Really, the only real rookie in the lineup, as he didn’t have a full year the year before, especially a rookie that’s playing every day. Hunter Pence had played pretty much every day the year before, so you’re talking about Michael being the only guy.

“I think just having that situation all year, and then having to lead off and be the leadoff guy, I think all of that played into Michael struggling. That made him put a lot of pressure on himself. So after a year of experience playing at home and all of that, I think he’s going to grow up and be a big-time Major League player.

Footer: Are you thinking, when it comes to the leadoff spot, maybe not putting (Bourn) up there and maybe (leading off with) Matsui?

Coop: “If Matsui is healthy, I think I would probably start the year with Matsui as the guy at the top just because of the experience, just because of the success that he had a year ago this past year. I think Michael, we will slowly work him into that scenario. He is the future of our club in that spot, but I think we have to back up a step and move slowly into that. I think this past year we put more pressure on him than we needed to.”

Question. A lot of talk about the economics, especially in Houston, and Tejada’s name has come up. Looking to cut the payroll by $10- or $12 million, how does that look if you cut two main parts of the team going into 2009?

Coop: “Well, you have Carlos and you have Lance Berkman and you have Matsui and you have Hunter Pence and you have Michael Bourn, you’ve got I think a very good bench. At least right now we have two very good bench players in Darin Erstad and Geoff Blum. That’s a solid offensive core. I think if we ended up losing a couple of players like that, of the quality and caliber of Tejada or Wigginton, you have to think in terms of the guys you are going to get back. But I don’t think it would hurt us significantly, especially if you are looking to improve the pitching.

If that’s the case and you weigh the two options, you know, I think we would still come out OK.”

Question. So even at the end of the rotation, or the end of the bullpen, if (Valverde) was to be moved, do you think you have enough right now to fill that spot?

Coop: “Well, I would not say we are really actively looking to move him. I think if you had talked about those, one, two, three pieces, he would be far down the list of the three pieces we talked about. We have talked about it, and I am well aware that we have to make some adjustments. I think every club has to make some adjustments. We are aware of that, and we have talked about it. Even doing that, there are still ways to improve.”

Question. Starting pitching, how do you think you can fill that?

Coop: “Through trades and possibly cutting payroll down. If you’re going to shave off $10 or $15 (million), whatever it is, probably the best way to do that is through trades, I would think. It’s been talked about Tejada and possibly Wigginton being moved, but if you do that, and you make a deal, then you hope to get some young pitching back and possibly a Major League-ready young guy to help you in that regard.”